wähltevswehrteWhat's the difference?

Which to use

“wählte” and “wehrte” are a confusable German pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#8,490
“wählte” frequency rank
#22,211
“wehrte” frequency rank
30701
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature wählte wehrte
Definition 1. Person Singular Indikativ Präteritum Aktiv des Verbs wählen 1. Person Singular Indikativ Präteritum Aktiv des Verbs wehren

Where the eye mixes wählte and wehrte

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. wählte and wehrte follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCCCV). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.

6 ch
wählte
6 ch
wehrte

Look-alike desk: wählte vs wehrte

A purely visual mix-up. wählte ([ˈvɛːltə]) and wehrte ([ˈveːɐ̯tə]) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 30701, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

wählte is recorded at frequency rank #8,490, classified as averb, pronounced [ˈvɛːltə]. wehrte is at rank #22,211, tagged as averb, pronounced [ˈveːɐ̯tə].

Glosses for this pair are partially populated in our dataset, but the full side-by-side definitions above should still guide you to the right choice.

With a confusion score of 30701, this pair ranks #1,742,734 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of wählte vs wehrte

Shared letters: ehtw. Private to "wählte": lä. Private to "wehrte": r.

"wählte" · 6 letters · shape CVCCCV  ·  "wehrte" · 6 letters · shape CVCCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • wehrte ← ewhrte · wehhrte · wehret · wehrrte · wehrtte · wehtre · werhte · wherte

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "wählte" and "wehrte" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently ([ˈvɛːltə] versus [ˈveːɐ̯tə]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary German text, does "wählte" or "wehrte" show up more?
"wählte" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #8,490 in our German list, against #22,211 for "wehrte". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "wählte" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "wehrte" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,742,734 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "wählte" and "wehrte" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "wehrte vs wehte". Nearby pair
  • Recorded mistypes exist for at least one side of this pair, useful when a spell-checker or OCR lands on the wrong form. See mistypes

Confusion rank #1,742,734 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list